As Argentina prepares for its massive World Cup quarterfinal matchup against Switzerland on Saturday in Kansas City, the country’s national soccer organization is under federal investigation in Miami for alleged money laundering, according to published media reports.
Citing sources close to the investigation, the Argentine daily newspaper, La Nación, and the Miami Herald each reported that U.S. federal investigators are examining the Argentine Football Association's Miami branch's transfers of more than $300 million through U.S. banks — and an accounting of how the money was spent.
La Nación, which first broke the story Wednesday, and the Herald reported the probe involves a Miami company called TourProdEnter LLC, which manages the AFA's foreign sponsorships.
Over the past decade, the AFA has become one of the richest national soccer organizations in the world, garnering especially lucrative sponsorships in Asia. It's headed by President Claudio Tapia.
Its directors declined to comment to La Nación about the reported U.S. investigation.
Wrote the Herald: "The scandal has expanded into an international investigation, placing Miami at the center of a complex web of shell companies, offshore transfers and opaque financial flows that might have deceived U.S. banks about the potentially illicit nature of the funds and how they would be used. At its core lies a familiar pattern: money moving quickly, obscured ownership and oversight struggling to keep pace."
The FBI's Miami field Office declined to comment about the investigation or its existence, the Herald reported.
